Challenging Illegal Fees

For several years, Long Island’s Suffolk County has avoided raising general fund taxes by imposing new or increased fees on certain residents. In October 2017, the Government Justice Center, an Albany-based public interest legal center, filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court to put an end to the illegal practice of raising general revenue through such fees.

Faced with the tough choice between raising taxes and cutting spending, Suffolk County has skirted the law by increasing fees far beyond their legal limit. Under state law, fees charged must not exceed the cost of service. Excess fees used for general revenue purposes are unauthorized taxes. Further, these fees unfairly target a subset of the population—new homebuyers, for example—to raise revenue for everyone.

The most egregious category is fees for filing real estate documents. For example, in Suffolk County, tax map verifications were projected to bring in $65 million in 2017—from an agency that costs just over $1 million per year to run.

“When government oversteps, the Government Justice Center exists to stand up for taxpayers and ensure that government plays by the rules,” said Cameron Macdonald, executive director of the Government Justice Center. “That is exactly what this case is about—if Suffolk County wants to raise revenue, it needs to do it legally, not by levying unauthorized taxes through excessive fees on a subset of residents.”

On April 13, 2018, plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment for an order declaring the tax map verification fees illegal and stopping Suffolk County from collecting them. The county asked for additional time to respond and the court granted that request. The motion is expected to be fully briefed by August 15, 2018.

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The Government Justice Center is an independent, not-for-profit legal center that provides pro-bono representation and legal services to protect the rights of New Yorkers in the face of improper action by state or local governments.